Travelling introduces you to a variety of new experiences. From local food staples and street food, to traditions you’d never dream of trying out at home, the discovery of novel and fresh experiences is truly one of the greatest joys of visiting someplace new. If your hobbies happen to include reading and books, then travelling also paves a path to new authors, new genres, and fantastic translations of local literature. Books are an additional entryway into the way of life, history, and culture of your destination, and help you understand the place you’re visiting better.

For what it lacks in geographical size, Malta makes up for in history and culture. This tiny island archipelago boasts its very own language, and while some might argue that Maltese is just another dialect of Arabic – well, it’s not, really. There are big similarities to North African dialects, and we can indeed manage to communicate with people from the Maghreb. But due to the fact that Malta was colonized by a vast number of rulers – from Phoenicians to Normans to the Knights of St John and the British – each and every nation left some mark on our language, making Maltese a hodge-podge vocabulary which sounds like Arabic and is close to Sicilian, with some English and French thrown in. Reading Maltese as somebody who is totally new to it is a daunting task, and presents new challenges in the form of ġ, ħ, ċ, ż, għ, to name but a few. Thankfully, some of the best works in Maltese literature have been translated into the world’s lingua franca and can now be enjoyed by the populace at large. These Maltese works of literature in translation can be your key to decoding the Maltese mind, so you too can figure us out and put your finger on what makes us tick!

Capricious Tales From Malta – Aleks Farrugia, tr. Adrian Scerri

As the title of this collection of short stories suggests, these are naughty tales about the Maltese islands and their very vivid history. Aleks Farrugia won the National Book Prize in Maltese Short Stories with the Maltese version of this collection in 2020, and the book has just recently been made available in English, thanks to Adrian Scerri’s keen eye and flowing pen. This collection will take you on a satirical journey through the Maltese islands’ eras and rulers, providing a blueprint of how the modern Maltese came to be. It is the perfect start to a Maltese literature in translation journey, and will flesh out any gaps you might be missing from the usual guidebooks, spanning from the temple-builders, to the Arabs, to the notorious Knights of St John, even including the paltry two-year Napoleonic rule of Malta. Nothing escapes the scathing gaze of Farrugia, and subsequently, Scerri.

Capricious Tales from Malta is published by SKS Publishers, and can be purchased here.

Angelo’s Eyes – Kilin, tr. Kilin

Speaking of gazes, one of Malta’s best-selling authors in his day, Kilin translated his own collection of short stories, Għajnejn Kalanġ, into English in this 2001 collection. While most of the hubbub around this literary work has since died down, these stories remain testament to Kilin’s brilliance and to his knack of creating lasting characters. With stories dealing about revenge and jealousy (the Maltese way, of course) and how these intertwine with religion and Malta’s flagrant Catholicism, these tales paint a picture of Malta as known to the Maltese. Having been written 20 years ago, some outdated viewpoints pepper these pages, however these reflect the reality of a Malta still evolving, still forming into the character it holds today.

Angelo’s Eyes is published by Klabb Kotba Maltin and can be purchased here.

The Misfit by Oliver Friggieri, tr. Charles Briffa

Oliver Friggieri was one of the best minds of Maltese literature, championing the study of the Maltese language and developing new terminology for the study of literary theory in Maltese. Like other great minds of literature before him, Friggieri penned the Maltese L’Étranger, a novel centred around an anti-hero, an oddball who cannot find his place in the world. The translation into English by Charles Briffa connects this novel of displacement to a larger and wider literary canon. Reading The Misfit will give you a glimpse of the mind of an islander, trapped by water on all sides, while his mind overflows and outgrows its birthplace.

The Misfit is published by Faraxa Publishers and can be purchased here.

The Secret Life of Nanna Ġenoveffa – Trevor Żahra, tr. Rose Marie Caruana

From the existential ennui of the Maltese intellectual’s mind to the dirty secrets and dirty laundry on display by Nanna Ġenoveffa, the saucy grandma created by one of Malta’s most beloved authors, Trevor Żahra. Ġenoveffa is given a new lease on life in the English translation by Rose Marie Caruana, and gets into hijinks with her beloved Żanżu – and all is revealed to us, the readers, via a manuscript found by her grandson. Żahra’s imagination is well-known to run high and wild, and this narrative of a not-so-innocent grandma in her heyday is nothing short of entertaining. Ġenoveffa is full of Maltese colour and charm, and will undoubtedly beguile the reader with her charming, and knowing, ways.

The Secret Life of Nanna Ġenoveffa is published by Merlin Publishers and can be purchased here.

An Asylum For Mystics – Mario Azzopardi, tr. Rowna Baldacchino

Mario Azzopardi was somewhat of an enfant terrible of Maltese literature. His modern style of poetry is as much liberating as it is dense, and he had a penchant for touching upon uncomfortable subjects and bringing them to the forefront. This translation of selected poems from one of his poetry collections, Noti mis-Sanatorju tal-Mistiċi, by Rowna Baldacchino follows his style of writing closely, and does a great job at translating Azzopardi’s distinct poetic voice into English. Not the easiest of Maltese poets to bite into, but certainly one of the most engaging and gripping, this poetry translation will give you a glimpse into the sentiment of one of Malta’s most subversive and candid voices.

An Asylum for Mystics is published by Horizons and can be purchased here.

Shadows of the Truth – Ġużè Ellul Mercer, tr. Godwin Ellul

Godwin Ellul brought a well-known Maltese coming of age novel, Leli ta’ Ħaż-Żgħir, to a wider audience with his 2003 translation of this 1930s classic. The original work in Maltese caused a huge stir when it was first published back in the very conservative Maltese thirties. It is a novel which encapsulates Malta of the early twentieth century, with the constant preoccupation of religion looming over every decision and action. This book was part of the school syllabus, so most Maltese are familiar with Leli precisely because they had to study this literary work in school. Becoming familiar with such a classic work of Maltese literature is sure to draw you one step closer into figuring out the fabric of Maltese society.

Shadows of the Truth is published by Klabb Kotba Maltin and can be purchased here.

In Tune with City Life – Rena Balzan, tr. Antoinette Pace

Rena Balzan is a pioneer in the science field in Malta, being one of the first Maltese women to have a successful career in this traditionally masculine sphere. Balzan also authored several novels and poetry collections, and was commemorated by the National Book Council in 2021 with the National Book Prize Lifetime Achievement award. One of her most well-known novels, Fiż-Żifna tal-Ibliet, was translated into English by Antoinette Pace in 2022, and provides a social commentary on the status of women in society. Coming from a prolific academic like Balzan, this critique of the way society looks at and treats women is a powerful comment on the misogyny which was rampant in the Maltese islands at the time this book was written, and which is somewhat still prevalent today. Although set in the fictious rival towns of Alfa and Gamma, the City Life described in this novel recalls the complexity of the microcosmic life in Malta, which becomes an even tighter knot if you’re a woman.

In Tune with City Life is published by Faraxa Publishing and can be purchased here.